Conventionally, a magnetic resonance imaging method used by a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as “MRI (Magnetic Resonance imaging) apparatus”) is a method of acquiring chemical and physical microscopic information about a substance by using a phenomenon that when being placed in a magnetic field, an aggregation of subject nuclear spins resonates with a radio-frequency magnetic field in which each atomic nucleus spins at a particular frequency (resonance frequency) responding to its own unique magnetic moment and an existing magnetic field, and generates a signal (magnetic resonance signal) in a relaxation process.
According to the magnetic resonance imaging method, the contrast, the spatial resolution, the image S/N ratio, the scan time, and the like, of an image depend on scanning parameters of scanning, for example, a Repetition Time (TR), an Echo Time (TE), an Inversion Time (TI), a Flip Angle (FA) of a radio-frequency magnetic field pulse for excitation, a delay time from an R wave obtained from an electrocardiogram to data collection, and a center frequency f0 of the radio-frequency magnetic field of the apparatus. For this reason, the MRI apparatus is an apparatus that needs to set specially various scanning conditions among medical devices.
Among the scanning parameters described above, there are some parameters each of which needs to be set to an optimal value depending on a condition of a subject or a condition of the apparatus depending on a scanning method. Regarding such parameters, a search for an optimal value of the parameter is conducted to maintain an image quality by performing a test scan immediately before a main scan under a state in which a subject is placed in the apparatus. Hereinafter, a scan for obtaining an image to be used for an actual diagnosis is referred to as a “main scan”, and a test scan to be executed prior to the main scan for optimizing specific scanning parameters for the main scan is referred to as a “preparation scan”.
For example, regarding a delayed myocardial contrast enhancement method, Non-patent Document 1 describes that “because a T1 relaxation time of a myocardium varies depending on a dose of a contrast agent and a time after an injection, an examination of IR-MRI is performed after selecting an inversion time (TI) at which the signal strength of a normal myocardium becomes substantially zero by performing a test scan”. Moreover, Patent Document 1 discloses a method of performing a preparation scan for optimizing an electrocardiogram-gated timing and/or the strength of a gradient magnetic-field pulse related to a flow void phenomenon in non-contrast enhanced angiography. Furthermore, Non-patent Document 2 describes a method of setting a frequency with which image artifacts in the region of interest becomes the least amount by visually confirming as a scan is performed for a short time while changing the center frequency f0 of the apparatus, prior to coronary artery imaging according to a Steady State Free Precession (SSFP) method.    Patent Document 1: JP-A 2003-70766 (KOKAI).    Non-patent Document 1: Hajime Sakuma et al., “Diagnosis on an ischemic heart disease by contrast-enhanced MRI”, INNERVISION, 2000, Vol. 15, No. 13, pp. 59-66.    Non-patent Document 2: Deshpande V S et al., “Artifact Reduction in True-FISP Imaging of the Coronary Arteries by Adjusting Imaging Frequency”, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2003, Vol. 49, No. 5, pp. 803-809.